University Boat Race 2012: Oxford call for re-race after protester causes chaos on River Thames

Oxford University asked for the 158th Boat Race to be re-staged on the Thames
on Sunday after Saturday’s extraordinary race was blighted by both a
protesting swimmer and a broken oar, and ended with rower Alex Woods being
taken to hospital after collapsing through sheer fatigue.

Oxford’s cox, Zoe de Toledo, asked race organisers for a “re-row” — meaning a complete re-running of the entire race — after her crew lost an oar, allowing Cambridge to win by the comprehensive margin of 13 seconds.

The race had seemed set to be far closer until it was interrupted by protester Trenton Oldfield, author of a blog called “Elitism Leads to Tyranny”, who swam into the boats’ path and only narrowly avoided being struck by an oar. Oldfield, who said on his blog that he had drawn inspiration from suffragette Emily Davidson’s suicidal disruption of the Epsom Derby 99 years ago, had come prepared in a wetsuit and, after being hauled out of the water by the umpire’s launch, told executive Boat Race director David Searle that he was very well aware of what he had done.

Visibly grinning, the man was taken to land at Chiswick Pier, arrested for a public order offence, and was last night being held at a west London police station.

His unprecedented intervention led to a half-an-hour delay before the race could resume, and less than a minute after the restart, Oxford’s Hanno Wienhausen lost part of his oar when the boats moved too close to each other. That cost Oxford any chance of victory, leading to De Toledo’s appeal to umpire John Garrett. But Garrett dismissed the possibility of a re-row. He said: “I listened to Oxford’s complaint but I explained I did not see the clash as being the reason for the eventual result.”

Woods, one of the seven Oxford oarsmen left to row against Cambridge’s eight, collapsed at the end of the race and was last night stable, conscious and being monitored in Charing Cross Hospital.

De Toldeo said: “He is hooked up to a drip, rehydrating in hospital and recovering nicely.”

Karl Hudspith, president of the Oxford University Boat Club, led condemnation of Oldfield, writing on Twitter: “To Trenton Oldfield; my team went through seven months of hell, this was the culmination of our careers and you took it from us.”

Oxford coach Sean Bowden said: “You can only imagine the desperation Alex must have been in with only six crew mates left, and that’s probably how he ended up pushing himself beyond his limits.”

The trophy presentation by Boris Johnson was cancelled out of respect while Woods, who is studying medicine, was treated by paramedics and taken to a waiting ambulance.

Searle insisted Oldfield’s protest did not mean security provision for the race was inadequate. While unaware of any specific planned actions ahead of the 2012 race, organisers had considered the chance of such a disruption. “We war-gamed this scenario last year,” Searle said. “I’m not sure what more we can do. We usually get good police intelligence, but obviously this time they didn’t hear anything.”

Cambridge coach Steve Trapmore said: “It was turning out to be a cracking race, so it’s sad it had to stop. You never think this kind of stuff is going to happen until it does.”